Popular drone manufacturer DJI has announced a partnership with FLIR Systems to build a thermal imaging camera for drones.

The camera will be built for the Inspire1 and Matrice 100 drone series', and will be very helpful for things like measuring a home's thermal efficiency and spotting fires.

DJI has fast become the most-used drone company for people like cinematographers, who are looking for new ways to capture footage from a height, although the company has recently been trying to find ways to help other industries and causes as well. For example, it recently launched a drone model that has pesticide-spraying capabilities.

The company has also published a video showing how the drone could be used by firefighters to spot a blaze and see where a fire originated, the direction that it's spreading in, and whether or not a building is stable. The Zenmuse XT Thermal Camera will come in two resolutions, either 640 x 512 or 336 x 256, and will be controllable from the DJI app. Not only that, but the thermal imaging camera will be extremely sensitive, with FLIR saying that it will be able to measure differences to the tenth of a degree.

The two companies haven't yet announced a price for the drones, although FLIR does already make a similar camera that starts at $1,500. The FLIR One, which is a smartphone sensor, only costs $249. It will be interesting to see how the price will affect who can and cannot take advantage of the new camera. Either way, we'll find out when the camera is released in the first quarter of 2016.

Via: Engadget